Chimpazilla   Judges ⚖️

This instrumentation gets my highest rating, WOW it's well done. The vocal comes in a touch loud for me, and while the singing is competent with good vibrato, there are spots that are flat. Even so, this cover is sensational. And wow Sir_Nuts, we are learning more about you each day YES

Some sidechaining of the kick into the bass and the loud pads would reduce the overcompression issues quite a bit, as it stands now the mix sounds unnecessarily busy when everything is playing. Sidechaining will also give this mix more groove. The arrangement is indeed very creative! Some of the sfx work, and others not so much, like the treasure chest sfx at 0:27, it is completely off-timed with the tempo of the mix and just sounds sloppy. All the sfx are too loud and dry so they sound tacked on. I like what you did with the melodies a lot though, starting with a recognizable line and then moving into a solo, very slick! The breakdown is interesting but borders on cheesy. I think if the sfx have a touch of reverb or delay on them (don't overdo it though!) this section will be more believable. In the final passage, the overcompression is really evident, as is the lack of sidechaining, and that pad is much too loud (but it might be ok at this volume once you've sidechained the kick into it). Please fix this up and resubmit it, it's very cool! NO (resubmit)

Ooooo this sounds nice right away. The toploop could be louder, all the drums could be louder and more present. The wubs could also be louder, you can definitely make them fill more space without needing to rely on the vocal sample, although the vocal is fine but a little repetitive. I hear no sidechaining which would make the mix groove better. The breakdown is pretty simple and empty, with not a lot of excitement to build back up to 3:10 which sounds too loud by contrast. The rhythm guitar sample sounds pretty good after the breakdown. I like the leads you've used. Source use seems to be plenty with great personalization. There are definitely aspects of the mixing that could be improved, but I think the positives outweigh the issues and I'm going with this one. YES

Contact information: Remixer name: Jorito Real name: Jorrith Schaap Website(s): YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Joeirot Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jorito Userid: 3899 Name of Game(s) Remixed: Undeadline Additional Game information: System: MSX, Sega Genesis, Sharp X68000 Developer: T&E Soft Genre: Shoot ‘em up Released: 1989 Composer: Kazunori Hasegawa Name of Arrangement: Marching Towards Roshufa’s Spirit Names of songs arranged: Forest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npS8oZf3AkI#t=6m11s) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: I originally started on this Undeadline remix 5 years ago, in a bit of a rock vibe (for giggles sake you can find it here: http://www.jorito.net/files/undeadline_v2.mp3) but never finished it (and to be honest I’m glad I didn’t). Undeadline is maybe an obscure gem, but a gem it is (it won the game of the year award in Japan in 1989 iirc). Fast forward to 2014, where I participated in the People’s Remix Competition and won with my “Enter the Illusion” track which found its way to OCR. Because I won I got to pick a track for the next round, and being the MSX home computer nostalgist that I am, I wanted this to be an MSX track. Spent quite a bit of time looking for a good MIDI, couldn’t find any and decided to convert my earlier abandoned attempt to MIDI. During that I got re-inspired by the track again and decided to work on a PRC bonus track myself. I didn’t want to go for another rock version, but felt like doing something electronic. In true Jorito-style I blended some unusual genres together again, my weird take on drum & bass and complextro in this case. The complextro bass part felt a bit empty, so I filled it with a vocal sample that I blatantly stole from Moby’s track “Go”. Moby probably doesn’t care because he stole it too. After that I basically sat on it for a year to get some feedback and do some last polishing and I’m satisfied enough with it now to declare it “done”. So here it is, I hope the world is ready to enjoy some more classic MSX game music. More to come! Cheers, Jorrith

Very cool tune, I love the mixed time signatures! Very clean sounding mix!

Hello again! This track was initially made to be used in a bachelor party that i threw for the groom, who involuntarily had to rap and sing along During the intro, a piano subtly plays the main notes from Super Smash Bros Wii U theme, and the finishing sample in the outtro is from Nintendo 64’s Ocarina of Time. Real name - Hallvard A. Ulsund Email address - Website - www.farkaudio.no ReMixer name - Fark Userid - 53571 Name of game arranged: Zelda: Link to the Past (1991, SNES) “Dark World” & “Zelda’s Lullaby" Name of arrangement: “Mettan" Original Composer - Koji Kondo Own comments - This track was initially made to be used in a bachelor party that I threw for the groom, who involuntarily had to rap and sing along

This is very pretty! The lead acoustic guitar is a bit low-heavy. I'm not a fan of hard panning so I wish the backing guitar wasn't so far right, especially in the intro when the soundscape is fairly empty. When the piano starts on the left it doesn't quite balance things for me, but this is my opinion and other Js may feel differently. At 1:00 when the sitar comes in, the sitar doesn't carry the lead writing as well as it could and it's drowning in reverb. The violin sounds quite nice when it comes in. When the guitar lead returns at 3:01, the guitar and violin are competing for attention as the lead, and the guitar again has too much lows. At 3:29, the transition writing is quite awkward, oof. The ending feels rushed. The arrangement is extremely conservative. The vibe of the remix is the same although the sampled instruments sound much better than the source. I layered the remix and source together, and it seems to be a direct midi-rip up until 1:00, with the remix being pitched up 4 semitones from the source. After 1:00 the structure of the remix is different, but not by terribly much, as the writing is still the same as the source but stretched out into a longer arrangement. I think the remix does enough to set it apart from the original, but I remain concerned about the conservative nature of this arrangement. I'd like to see some other opinions on this arrangement before I vote. I will likely vote yes on this mix even with my production crits, but I need to think a bit more about this arrangement and see some other opinions.

ReMixer - RoeTaKa Name - Alex Roe Email - UserID - 9374 Games Arranged - Terranigma Arrangement Name - Home Songs Arranged - Crysta (Town) Comments: Terranigma turned 20 on October 20th 2015 and I thought it would be a great time to return to one of my favourite games and song from a game. For a number of years now I actually had ideas of making an entire arrangement album of Terranigma on my own, but I think it would probably go beneath people's radar. So for now this single remix will have to do. I've already remixed this song twice and they were both rejected (and rightly so! Haha). The first time, 11 years ago I had been writing music for about 6 months and thought I was really cool with soundfonts at the time. I remember sending Darkesword a PM about the remix, I can't actually remember what he said haha. The second time, about 6 months after the prior remix, I had my first proper VST - SampleTank 2. At this point I thought I was for sure making an amazing remix! Again it wasn't, plagued with dissonance it was sure to fail. I saw the judges comments and Shnabubula was quite thorough with his analysis, I decided to message him on AIM and we still talk today so I am thankful I made that remix. Coming back to this song reminds me of my time over the years writing music and the bonds that formed from it. If I were an old man this song would trigger so many memories. If I had amnesia it might save me! I wanted to just do a really pleasing arrangement of this song that pays homage to the original but deviates here and there just so the song can be enjoyed more. I think that's very much what mv did with his remix of this song, his is pretty much the definitive Crysta remix and one of my favourite remixes of all time...so I can only hope mine can be enjoyed as much as his.

Right away the sampled guitar sounds very mechanically sequenced. The arrangement sounds very much like the original, too close to meet our standards. This is almost a midi-rip from what I hear, but I do hear some original soloing near the end, that's a step in the right direction. You'll need to add some more personalization to the track, add more melody personalization, alter the chord progression somewhere in the track, change up the drum groove or vary the instrumentation or find other ways to set it further apart from the original (while still keeping it recognizable). As for production, every instrument is competing for frequency space so the soundscape sounds muddy. The drums are weak and quiet and the drum groove is repetitive. Synth timbres are dry and lifeless. I recommend you post your track into our wip forums where you will get further advice on how to improve this. NO

Contact Information ReMixer name: Wave Beam Real name: Timo Holopainen Email address: Forum userid: 33003 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Thunder Force III Name of arrangement: Phoenix Fire Name of individual song(s) arranged: Venus Fire Additional information about game: - System: Arcade, SNES (renamed as Thunder Spirits), Sega Genenis - Composers: Toshiharu Yamanishi, Tomomi Ootani, Naosuke Arai Link to the original soundtrack: Comments This is the first arrangement I'm submitting to OverClocked ReMix. I've made a couple of arrangements before, but this is one of the better ones that's decent enough. I tried to keep the overall sound as close as the original. The first versions of this song had multiple guitar and synth tracks, but I decided to reduce them to a single guitar and two synths to complement each other. I think the result is simpler but more effective. Thunder Force games are highly rated shoot 'em ups for good reasons, and the third is my favorite. I decided to create a remix of Venus Fire (Gorgon stage music) as it is one of the most famous and iconic song in the series. Plus the stage itself is just plain awesome with its blazing flames in the background.

Sources are handled very conservatively but there's great personalization. The piano performance is great; as usual Sam's piano playing blows me away. The piano sounds really rich and full, but the violin sounds small, dry and alone in the center of the soundstage as well as frequently sounding flat. The "huh" vocals sound really out of place, dry, and tacked on. I'm curious to see other opinions on this track, but I'm feeling like the overall mixing is leaving me flat and the soundscape feels really empty. The ending is super abrupt. Not quite there for me. NO (resubmit)

remixer: shnabubula Hey, this was done at the request of the composer for the game and a good friend the beautifully Norwegian Eirik Suhrke who actually just released a game that he both scored and helped develop called "Downwell" on steam and it's really cool. This is yet another collaboration with Mr. Gabe Terracciano who is now in his 20s which is crazy to think he hadn't entered his teens when I first started submitting to OCR. Anyway, it's a remix of the Title Screen and Death Match songs, here are youtube links to the sources: Also of relatively low importance, the "huuuhhhh!" shouts are gabe yelling into his violin mic to match the sample in the original.

What the. Ok this is so cool, but I'll be honest, I've tried to evaluate this a couple of times and my head keeps exploding. I'm trying to check for source use, I think it's there. 0:37-0:48 motor-cycle (0:00-0:05 in source) 0:48-1:00 bah-bah (0:15-0:25 in source) 1:00-1:12 motor-cycle 1:12-1:33 harmonies (0:36-0:44 in source) 1:33-1:56 just jamming along (1:06-1:26 in source) 2:05-2:19 crazy bus Yep it's mostly all source other than the intro and the spoken stuff before Crazy Bus. How does one evaluate production on a purely vocal mix? Although I'd probably prefer to hear some actual drums in here along with the vocal layers, this is mixed pretty well for what's here. I have to go with this, it's so creative. YES

REMIXER INFO Remixer Name: XPRTNovice Real Name: Joseph Zieja Email: Website: http://josephzieja.com Twitter: @JosephZieja Coat Size: 40R REMIX INFO Games Arranged: Final Fantasy VII, Crazy Bus Name of Arrangement: The Rules of the Road Name of Individual Songs Arranged: "Crazy Motorcycle Chase" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCNPpYAkNKA "Crazy Bus Intro" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC0cvwnG0Ik Remixer Comments: Whichever kickstarter backer from Final Fantasy VI requested this: I hate you. I hate everything you stand for.

I've heard this track several times as it has developed and I love it. Great sound design, great energy. I love Joel's vocals, I think they fit into the soundscape nicely. The arrangement is pretty conservative but the remix provides some really creative interpretations and the track is mixed really well. Fun listen, recommended! YES

Production checks out for me, everything is crystal clear, the trombones may be a tad resonant in the higher notes, but overall this production is working really well. I'm loving this dissonance. Great dynamics throughout the piece. Great track, I love it. I'm not familiar enough with these sources to say if there's enough, so I will need to revisit that. Any J who is familiar with these sources that could check source use would be appreciated. edit 4/8/16: Thank you Mike for the source confirmation! Easy yes now. YES

THIS MIX IS FREAKING HUGE SO MUCH PLENTY SOURCE MANY VARIATION WOW DAYUM HYOOOOOJ YES

Haha those captions! I submit that no one should attempt to pee in a tsunami. I'd be more likely to try to FLEE in a tsunami. But I digress. Filtered intro, cool, but I keep hoping the filter is going to open more fully, the whole track sounds muffled. Those DnB drums and glitches are very cool. Seriously is there a high cut on this entire track, where are the highs? The strings don't feel like they fit with the rest of the soundscape, somehow you've got to mix them so they sound like they are in the same space. At 1:02 the lead synth cuts through so well that it really sticks out from the rest of the muffled soundscape. That lead could also use some vibrato or filter movement, it is very plain. When the soundscape gets dense, the strings seem to make everything sound midrange-muddy. The piano sounds very mechanical, especially when it is exposed at the end. I like this arrangement. I don't know this source so I'm not sure if I recognize it here or not. On a cursory listen it seems to be represented well enough, mostly in the strings as Wes mentioned. Regardless, the mixing issues are dealbreaker for me. NO (resubmit)

I like the sound of these guitars, but I don't like the hard panning. I agree with Deia, some panning is good, but not this much. Scale back the panning somewhat and use eq to make room for each guitar to have it's own space. From 1:13 to 1:20 there is some kind of harsh resonance going on. I think the trumpet could be louder, and with less panning on the guitars it may have to be a little louder. Otherwise I think the mixing is nearly there. The arrangement is quite nice. I'll be honest, I can't hear the source at all, because the remix is in such a different style, different key, and with a 100% different vibe. I'd really need to see a timestamped breakdown to even know this was a remix of that source. NO

That's one beefy kick! The track goes on until 1:23 only playing one note (F#) , I get that it's trance but that's a bit too long. Then from 1:23 until 1:51 there's just that F# and minimal harmony. This intro would work if there was something more interesting to hear like some filter movement or little arps or something. There are only vague hints at the melody until 2:45, when as Mike pointed out, the source is played verbatim on a piano, and wow is that piano quiet and distant compared to the beefy section that preceded it. That whole middle section , what the heck happened for it to be this quiet? Dynamics are a good thing but this just feels wrong. At 4:08 the buildup begins and the melody is still playing there, I like that. By 4:35 though, the soundscape is so dense and I'm looking at a waveform sausage. I think you could sidechain many more elements during this second verse, including pads and (to a lesser degree) leads, to gain some breathing room. I'm not hearing any distortion, but I'm also not hearing any dynamics, this section is just too dense. Trance outro with just the single note again. The ending cuts off cold. I like this idea and your approach here, it just needs some more finesse to pull it off properly. NO (resubmit)

*revisits previous vote* Ah yes, I remember, it was too short. I agree with Mike that now it's too long! The arrangement definitely works now, that's the good news. But the sections are repetitive, with the same writing and instruments. I agree with Deia that the main motif is overused, and the writing in between iterations of the motif is random and noodley, and also very quantized and simple. The hats get repetitive since it's the same toploop again and again, with no other drumming most of the time. When the kick comes in, I don't hear any sidechaining, and the kick is timid. By contrast, when the snare comes in briefly at 3:12, it is much too strong compared to the kick. The bell timbre is too sharp compared to everything else. A lot of your lead writing is very mechanical and depends on a lot of simple, quantized quarter notes. The gated strings are nice but they feel very weak and dry, you might try layering those with another pad without gating but with some filter movement, and some reverb. Without any effects it just sounds like a very plain pad with FL's Gross Beat thrown on there on a simple preset. The pad would come alive with some layering, some reverb, and some filter movement. I really think you could keep the arrangement just like it is now, but you will need to put in some work to get your sounds rich and full and varied, and spiff up the writing too, maybe throw in some kind of solo, or have a friend who does solos do one for you. NO (resubmit)

I'll pretty much cosign with my fellow judges here. The writing is much too similar to the source material. The synths sound pretty generic, as Mike said the sound design isn't bad but also isn't great. Everything sounds very dry. The kick sounds flat but also too thick, as if the sample has too long of a tail, it goes on too long after each hit, taking up a lot of sonic space unnecessarily in your mix. The arrangement is the bigger deal though, we need more interpretation than what's here. NO

I like the orchestral intro, although the strings would need a bit of humanization. When the electronic portion begins, I like the synth playing the lead and I can envision this track as a trance track, but the drums are so weak and repetitive, and the same is true of the bass. The drums and bass here are very weak and repetitive, and this is the type of track where drums and bass can make or break the track. That tempo change, Mike is right that it isn't signaled or built up at all so it feels odd and jarring. The orchestral outro is quite nice. I agree with Mike that you may want to focus on one style or the other. Your orchestral work is definitely the stronger skill at the moment. Join our wip forums and get some further advice. NO (resubmit)

Bump for the 4th NO vote. It's close though.

The track is definitely repetitive, you might consider adding a second source to add interest to the arrangement. You've used some interesting sounds, but the stiff sequencing is really distracting. In the first half, the bell timbre has a ton of resonance, and everything is washed out with reverb. The piano chords are so mechanical and there is something strange with the envelope on the sample. When the piano arp comes in, the writing is such a simple arpeggiated pattern. In the second half, there is a lot of harmonic dissonance between the pads and chords and leads. I'm not a fan of the hard panning in the second half either, but that's my personal preference. Drums are also very repetitive. As Deia said, there's a lot of work to do here. I recommend joining our wip forums if you haven't already. NO